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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I mentioned this little unfinished project a few posts back. Actually, it's been almost a month. I finally finished up the binding yesterday and got it nice and crinkly in the washer. There were a few frustrations in working on it, but, in the end, I'm pretty happy with it, considering it's the first quilt I've ever designed and pieced, quilted, and bound all by myself (with a few tutorials from my mom!). That being said, if I were to make a quilt for my friend for her birthday this year - it would look nothing like this. Even if her birthday is on the 4th of July.

Since this was the first thing I have quilted with a walking foot I wasn't ever really sure I was doing it right, because it just seemed like there was something off. That it should have been easier than it was. My stitches were uneven and the fabric wasn't feeding well. I was borrowing my mom's foot and remembered not having this much trouble working with it when she was here.

So I was on the phone with her working on those minky baby blankets, with the walking foot and expressing my frustration - being the day AFTER I finished this quilting. Our conversation went a little something like this:

my mom: Do you have the little black arm attached to the presser foot screw?

me: you mean the way I also didn't know that a fat quarter measured 18"x22" until last fall?

my mom: (chuckles)

me: The problem here is that you know so much you just assume I've learned it all through osmosis! I'm totally going to blog about this. A post entitled: Things my mom thought she taught me, that I wish I had known.

my mom: Oh no you're not!

me: we'll see.

I guess we know the outcome of that one. (Thanks, mom!)

I love how the binding turned out. I think the stripes really complete it and make it a little fancier. I used to think I hated sewing on binding, but I knocked this out during a viewing of this. And it's not as hard as I used to think. I reccomend running your thread through beeswax to keep it from tangling. I learned that from Bend the Rules Sewing (and yes, I think my mom knew about that trick too).

I love it! It looks wonderful and makes me excited for summer! That actual quilting part can be a real PAIN, eh? I'd love to say it gets easier, and I suppose it does a little bit, but I still hate doing it. It's great to have a finished quilt though...congratulations!